Clean Genes

Since Baby Ear Infection and Sister Extrovert have required lots of attention these last few days, I decided not to question it when quiet fell on the house this afternoon. Madeline was, miraculously, asleep, and Meredith was doing something in the kitchen. I didn't know what. I decided I didn't care, either. She was quiet, and obviously happy, and so--sweet peace--was I. Finally I went to check it out. I found the above scene. That's right, what you see is a 4 year old organizing the silverware. I'm glad this girl has an over-developed sense of privacy, or I'd wonder if there was any Sugg in her at all.

On a slightly less sanitary note, this conversation took place this morning:
* Here's your phone mom.
* Thanks, babe.
* Do you notice that it's nice as new?
* Sure, babe.
* That's cause I licked the screen and wiped it with my coat.
* Fabulous. Thanks, babe.

Almost There

Robert and Taurean, Lord willing, will graduate this May. 6 years of blessings. We just figured out that because of some travel plans we made, we'll miss their graduation. I may never recover. Robert said it'll help if my mom and dad go (there's your heads up, Keddi and Papa). So I'll spend the next couple months trying to figure out how to be sure and communicate how proud we are of them. We love them so much.

Thanks for letting me talk through that. And if you have a minute, please pray about the next 6 months of the boys' lives, as we work to help them finish school, finish ACT testing, finish applications, and head to the next stage of life. Pray for energy and wisdom on our part and for motivation and direction on the boys' part. We're still not sure what post-high school is going to look like for either of them, but we know that right now it's important for them--as it is for any of us--to not lose momentum.

Brave Baby

It was bound to happen, and we're pretty sure it has: baby #2 is a much more adventurous girl than baby #1 ever was. Because so many of you care about the well-being of my children, and because I don't want to be reported to DCS, I'm not even going to tell you how many times Madeline fell off the bed this week. And I won't mention that there was also a "swimming" in the bathtub incident. She's fine, and corrective action has been taken against the responsible parties (ie, we feel terrible and we're just never putting her on on the bed again, even if she screams like a pterodactyl and uses her tiny fists to cling to the comforter .) She's just gutsy - pretending she can stand in the middle of concrete floors, trying to scale the staircases, hanging on to the easel and then just swinging when her feet slip. We're going to have to develop a different set of parenting skills, 'cause this ain't going to be another baby we can sit on the kitchen counter while we make dinner.

Calligraphy?

Something you may not know about me...I'm a decent calligrapher. It's about as lucrative as my ability to spell well. Nevertheless, it's rewarding to see that Meredith has inherited my interest in creating fancy letters.

Happy Valentine's Day

Mommy do you hear that sound?
Nope.
That's my heart loving you.

Experiment

I love experimental clutter. Meredith is trying to grow moss. We'll see.

Mystery Baby

You know what's kind of weird about babies? You can live with them for months, and still not really know what in the world they'll turn out to be. Sure, I know that Madeline is a mellow, happy, friendly baby. But beyond that? Still a mystery. Athlete? Cook? Genius? Funny? Sensitive? Artistic? Sneaky? Clumsy? Who knows. She's just a fluffy little pink ball of mysteriousness.